


Castiel vs Neko Atsume

by lizbobjones



Category: Supernatural, ねこあつめ | Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector
Genre: Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, literally Bunker fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-25 16:53:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7540498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizbobjones/pseuds/lizbobjones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Bunker was a mess - there were at least twenty cats in there, to Dean’s eyes, as he scanned across cushions and cat towers, cardboard houses and cat toys. The first sneeze came after he locked eyes with a black cat with glowing yellow eyes. It hissed at him and retreated into a cardboard tube painted like a doughnut.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Castiel vs Neko Atsume

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MittenWraith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MittenWraith/gifts).



> This is [Mittenwraith](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MittenWraith/pseuds/MittenWraith)'s fault. Entirely.  
> ([original post](http://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/137218406508/ugh-i-also-had-a-casneko-atsume-dream-last))

“I can explain,” Cas said, unexpectedly meeting them at the door of the bunker.

“Explain what?” Dean asked, immediately trying to crane past Cas as the angel spread his arms to try and block the door. He couldn’t physically block a loud “MEW!” from behind him, though.

“There was, um, a spell…” Cas said helplessly, as Dean pushed past the now unresisting angel and looked down into the Bunker. Sam followed behind, smiling nervously at Cas, pre-emptively apologetic for whatever Dean’s reaction was that Cas was clearly trying to mollify.

There was a huge white cat laying belly up on the war room table, looking extremely well-fed. 

A tabby hopped up next to it and let out another loud mew.

“It’s okay, Princess, I’m going to refill the food bowl,” Cas said. “I was just explaining to my friends here…”

“MEW!”

Cas set off down the stairs in a hurry.

“Wait wait wait,” Dean said, chasing after. “We were gone on one short hunt for three days. When did you become Ethel the crazy cat lady? Where did you get all these cats?”

The Bunker was a mess - there were at least twenty cats in there, to Dean’s eyes, as he scanned across cushions and cat towers, cardboard houses and cat toys. The first sneeze came after he locked eyes with a black cat with glowing yellow eyes. It hissed at him and retreated into a cardboard tube painted like a doughnut.

“I didn’t get the cats from anywhere. I was reading one of the books in the library, I went to go make coffee, and when I came back Fred here was sitting on the table.” Cas picked up a particularly smug looking orange cat and placed it on his shoulders. 

Dean sneezed at it.

“What was the book?” Sam asked, following behind now with a black and white cat purring loudly in his arms. “If this was a spell, maybe we can reverse it.”

“Or just kick out all the cats,” Dean said loudly, if rather congested.

He was ignored.

“It was, um, a book on tulpas and thoughtforms,” Cas admitted, after a pause to drag out a truly massive sack of cat food from the kitchen. He turned and headed back up the passage, Dean and Sam trailing after him.

“So these are all your imaginary friend cats,” Dean grumbled.

“They’re from Neko Atsume,” Cas said, somewhat defensively.

“That app you’ve been staring at for the past month?” Dean grumbled in disbelief. “This is what happens when you get addicted to stuff. I told you to get some fresh air”

“All I did was leave my phone on top of one of the pages.”

“Yeah, and your obsession with imaginary cats did the rest.” 

The black cat hissed at Dean again on their trip back to the war room, where Cas had put several bowls.

“I did try to stop them manifesting,” Cas said, now truly grumpy. “It seems that the spell will maintain the presence of the summoned creatures more on an intuitive emotional level than on command.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m still enjoying having the cats here more than I’m worried about getting rid of them to satisfy you. I don’t think the spell believed me at all when I tried to wish them away.” Cas scooped up a different tabby with a black ear and white face, and scritched it behind the ears. 

Dean threw up his hands in despair. “Fine. I’m going to get some allergy meds. Don’t you dare let any of them in my room.” He disappeared up the stairs and slammed the Bunker door harder than necessary.

Cas turned to Sam, who now had four cats on him. Sam grinned. “So what are all their names?”

When Dean came back, things were sort of settled - aside from the sheep cushion on the table with a sleeping white cat in it, the table was spread with books and papers, as Sam and Cas were clearly trying to research an alternative to break the spell.

“Have you tried uninstalling the app?” Dean asked, sinking into the chair next to Cas.

Cas glared at him.

Sam looked up from his reading. “Are you over being grumpy?”

“I’m not grumpy!” Dean complained.

“You stormed out of here an hour ago.”

“I’m fine. Weird stuff happens to us all the time. I’ve accepted that we’ve somehow adopted thirty cats. Now we solve the problem, and peace and quiet is restored.”

“The cats are very peaceful,” Cas said, gesturing where there was a sleeping cat on pretty much every surface in the bunker, curled up on chairs, sleeping in the helmets from the displays on the shelf that they’d clearly knocked to the floor, in nests of books…

Dean gave him a very unimpressed look.

Sam got up and stretched. “Well, if you’re willing to talk civilly, I’m exhausted. We had a long day before the cat thing happened.” He crept out of the room, only stopping to pick up one of the brown and black cats that got up and wound around his ankles when Sam stood.

Dean massaged his forehead, and took a long deep breath before turning to Cas. “So you made it sound like you summoned all these cats and they won’t go away because you’re lonely.”

“I was alone in the Bunker,” Cas replied, not looking up from his book.

“I mean, you’re still resting up from everything, and I wanted you to be safe. You could have come with us if you wanted.”

“I know. I was happy here.”

“You summoned thirty cats that feed off your loneliness.”

Cas just stared at him. Dean knew he’d sort of deliberately missed the point but he also knew that was more of the truth than Cas would let on.

“Well, what if you had just one or two cats? And played with the rest on your phone? Now me and Sam are back, you’ve got some actual people to talk to, after all…”

“You said we couldn’t keep a pet here.”

“Well yeah, we sometimes leave for weeks. I don’t want to kill a cat because we get held up by some apocalypse somewhere and can’t come back to feed it. But if you’ve just summoned the cats, that gets rid of the problem, right? They just go away again if you don’t want them?”

“I suppose…”

“I mean, you’d have to look after it still, don’t get me wrong. And you would tidy up after it and feed it and so on. It’ll be your cat.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

They stared at each other for a little while, Cas starting to smile like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, and Dean fighting to keep on scowling grumpily while trying to be the one responsible adult in the Bunker.

“Fine, so which cat are you keeping?”

It was the wrong question. Cas had his phone out and was scrolling through the catbook on the app in no time, telling Dean long stories about the cats’ names and personalities. 

He’s happy, Dean told himself, and his smile changed from fixed to genuinely indulgent as he took to watching Cas’s excited face as he told him how Fred was the best conversationalist, rather than paying much attention to the cats.

“Hey, what about that one in the cowboy hat?” Dean asked.

Cas rolled his eyes. “You would pick that one.”

“I’m not picking any cat.”

Cas shook his head and smiled at Dean like he knew full well that Dean just had.

A moment later Dean realised that he’d stopped hearing a sound he hadn’t even been paying attention to - there was no more purring coming from the sheep cushion at his elbow. In fact, there was no more sheep cushion. Dean looked around and saw the library somewhat trashed, but cat-free.

Cas smiled at Dean and put a hand over his where he’d left it resting on the table. “Thank you, Dean.”

Dean blushed and looked away. “You’re the one who summoned the stupid cats in the first place.”

“Still… thank you. I feel much less lonely than I have in months. Sam was right - this was much more about me missing you than wanting three dozen cats.”

Dean realised how close they’d moved while they were talking; that Cas was still holding his hand… suddenly it was too close and warm in the room. Dean looked away, back around the room. “Uh, where is our - your - new cat anyway?”

“Oh, um, probably where he’s been the whole time… I couldn’t stop Billy from sleeping on your bed… he seemed to really like it there…”

Dean let go of Cas’s hand so he could thunk his head painfully against the table.


End file.
